Below you will find project files used in this tutorial for download. (Please note: these are large, full-resolution files and will take some time to download.)

Download A Camera Video File
Download B Camera Video File
Download C Camera Video File
Download Project File #1

Download Project File #2

You need to first establish a clear sync point at which all of the
cameras record the same thing before they record their individual
shots. That sync point will be identified as the same moment in
physical time, even though it exists at different tape positions in
each camera that is recording.

An excellent way to establish a sync point for multiple camera shoots
is to clap a slate, like they do in the movies. This is the technique I
used when recording the multi-cam footage for the companion DVD and
images here. Point every camera at the slate and start each camera
recording. Clap the slate closed, and then continue recording with each
camera until you have recorded all of the necessary material.

After you establish the sync point, don’t stop any of the cameras
mid-shoot. If a camera does happen to stop, establish an intermediate
sync point for that camera to be synchronized with the other cameras.
Recording a new slate mark with the stopped camera and one of the
already synchronized cameras, which continue recording, is usually
enough.

Once you get your footage into Premiere Pro, you’ll use the
Clip menu’s new Synchronize
feature, which lets you synchronize your clips based on a variety of
parameters. It offers a choice of four sync methods. With at least two
clips selected, you can synchronize them based on any of the parameters
listed.

Next, open three video clips that comprise a multi-cam shoot. Because
each camera produced a separate tape with different time code, the
resulting footage doesn’t have a shared time code value. Regardless of
the time code values of the individual clips, all the cameras do share
one instance: the sync point (the slate clap). Assign a
Numbered marker to each slate clap and synchronize
the clips in one quick step.

Although new, the entire multi-cam workflow is based on a fundamental
concept that should be familiar: nesting. At the workflow’s most basic
level, you’ll place up to four clips in a "source" sequence, then nest
that source sequence into a new sequence. Using the new
Multi-Camera Monitor, you can execute edits on the
nested sequence simulating the behavior of a switcher. Each shot name
is preceded by a letter- A, B, or C- that lets you immediately
distinguish between the shots (cameras). Notice how the Media
Start time code value for each shot is different; if the time
code was the same it would be easier to synchronize the clip.

We’ve provided shots from three cameras on the downloadable project
file. Download and open the Multi-Cam_Live.prproj project from the
www.studiomonthly.com/tutorials. In the
Project panel you will see three clips, one for each
camera of the multi-cam shoot. Double-click on A Cam
01.avi to open it in the Source Monitor.
Scrub to 21;10;25 in the clip and right-click within
the frame boundaries of the clip. Choose Set Clip Marker >
Next Available Numbered. Double-click on B Cam
01.avi to open it in the Source Monitor.
Navigate to 12;13;10, right-click on the clip, and
choose Set Clip Marker > Next Available Numbered.
Finally, open C Cam 01.avi and assign a
Numbered marker at frame
11;52;10. Premiere Pro automatically assigns the
first marker in a clip the number "0." If you want another specific
number instead, choose Set Clip Marker > Other
Numbered and then type the number in the resulting dialog.

Open A Cam 01.avi from the tab menu of the
Source Monitor then drag and drop the clip directly
onto Video 1. Open and drop B Cam
01.avi onto Video 2. Open and drop
C Cam 01.avi onto Video 3. With
the Multi-Cam Source sequence active in the
Timeline panel, press Ctrl+A to select the three
clips. Right-click on the group and from the menu select
Synchronize (a). In the Synchronize
Clips dialog click the button for Numbered Clip
Marker, make sure the Numbered value below
is set to 0, then click OK (b and c).

When you added the clips to individual tracks you should have noticed
that each displayed an icon within the clip boundary signifying the 0
marker that you assigned. You chose to synchronize the clips based on
this common marker, and Premiere Pro aligned the clips. Notice how the
clips on tracks 2 and 3 shifted to the right to align with the position
of the 0 marker on Video 1. Video 1 was the target
track when you executed the Synchronize
command. When you synchronize clips, the clips in the non-targeted
tracks dynamically shift so that they align with the sync point of the
clip on the targeted track. I will refer to the clip on Video 1 as the
guide track.

Remember, to perform multi-cam edits using the new
Multi-Camera Monitor, you must use nesting. To do
this, click the New Item icon at the bottom of the
Project panel and create a new sequence. Name it Multi-Cam
Edit and assign it one video track and one stereo track with
Audio Master set to Stereo. The
sequence will automatically open in the Timeline
panel. From the Project panel, grab the icon for the
Multi-Cam Source sequence and drop it onto
Video 1 of the Multi-Cam Edit
sequence.

Press the / key to zoom into your timeline, then right-click on the
nested Multi-Cam Source sequence and choose
Multi-Camera > Enable.

From the wing menu of the Program Monitor select
Multi-Camera Monitor (a). Dock the
Multi-Camera Monitor into your workspace so that you
can see the Timeline panel and the
Multi-Camera Monitor at the same time. I typically
dock it into the same frame as my Program Monitor
(b). It’s time to edit! Click the Play button in the
Multi-Camera Monitor and as the video plays press
the 1 key on your keyboard ( not
on the numeric keypad). Let the clip keep playing, and after a moment
or two, press the 2 key. Let the clip continue
playing; then after a moment or two, press the 3
key, and then finally press the spacebar to stop playback.

Once the nested sequence was enabled for multi-camera monitoring, the
Multi-Camera Monitor revealed the tracks of the
Multi-Cam Source sequence in the left side of the
Multi-Camera Monitor. As you play back, the clips
play in the foursquare quadrant. Because the clips were properly
synchronized they play in unison; my gestures match in each of the
quadrants showing video.

The tracks of the nested sequence reveal themselves in the quadrant in
a left-to-right, top-to-bottom fashion. Video 1
plays in the top left and should be referred to as
Multi-Camera (MC) 1, Video 2 or
MC 2 plays in the top right, Video
3 or MC 3 is in the bottom left,
MC 4/Video 4 is in the bottom right. Because there’s
no Video 4 in this nested multi-cam sequence the
fourth quadrant is empty. Since at the beginning of the sequence tracks
2 and 3 are empty, only MC 1 shows an image.

Once you engage playback and the Multi-Camera
Monitor plays the nested sequence you can use the keyboard’s
1, 2, 3, and
4 keys to execute a cut/take to the video track
(MC) to which you want to switch. When you pressed
1 to take MC1, a red record
square surrounded the activated quadrant and the preview side (right
side) of the Multi-Camera Monitor displayed
Video 1 in full frame. At the same time, an edit was
performed in the timeline, slicing the nested sequence and updating it
to reference the camera being switched to: MC1. The
moment you pressed 2, the Multi-Camera Monitor executed another edit to
the timeline (MC2) and in unison switched to display
Video 2 in the Preview area.
MC2 in the Source area took on a
red border. Pressing 3 applied a cut in the
timeline, which referenced MC3, and the
Multi-Camera Monitor updated accordingly. Although
the Multi-Camera Monitor continued playing during
this process, updating the monitor quadrants and preview area along the
way, the timeline did update until you stopped playback. Now that you
know the keyboard shortcuts to switch between cameras, try clicking
directly on the quadrants to switch cameras.

With the Edit Line in the same position as at the
end of the last step, click Play in the
Multi-Camera Monitor. As the video plays back, click
directly onto the multi-camera quadrants: 1 (wait a
few seconds), 2 (wait a few seconds),
3 (wait a few seconds), then click
Stop. Position the Edit Line back
at the beginning of the Multi-Camera Monitor’s time
viewing area, then click Play to watch the edit.
This time, don’t click on any quadrants. As the monitor plays, pay
attention to the yellow selection square in the camera area and the
edits below in the timeline.

Just as you can switch between cameras by pressing the number key
associated with the Multi-Camera source, you can also click directly on
the quadrant to which you wish to cut as the monitor plays back. When
you click on a camera/quadrant it’s surrounded by a red square
indicating it’s the current shot being recorded to the timeline. By
clicking on another camera or pressing one of the four camera buttons
you can dynamically cut to the new selected camera, which creates a new
edit in the timeline.

Position the Edit Line back at the beginning of the
sequence and click Play in the active
Multi-Camera Monitor. Press 3
immediately as the timeline plays back to take MC3.
After the slate clap, press 1. After putting down
the White Card press 2. As you
verbally call out each camera in the shots, press the buttons
associated with them in unison: 1,
2, and 3. Press the spacebar to
stop.

Executing an edit based on cutting to specific camera angles at exact
times shows one very important thing: When you play back a multi-camera
sequence that’s already been edited you can easily overwrite the edit
by executing new camera decisions. This means that if you ever have a
section of your multi-cam sequence that you want to redo, you can
always just position the Edit Line over that
section, click Play in the Multi-Camera
Monitor, and try a different edit combination by clicking in
the quadrants or pressing camera number keys. When you reach the end of
the section you want to adjust, stop playback. If you click
Play again and don’t click any quadrants or press
any camera keys, the edit will play as a preview in the
Multi-Camera Monitor.

In the Timeline panel, position the Edit
Line at 00;00;12;21. At this point in the
timeline your Edit Line should either be on
MC2 or MC1. Press the
N key to switch your Selection
tool to the Rolling Edit tool. Find the cut point of
MC2 to MC1 and click on it with
the Rolling Edit tool. Holding down the mouse, roll
the cut point over to the Edit Line at
12;21 (a and b), then release the mouse button.
Position the Edit Line at
00;00;14;19 and using the same tool, drag the
MC1-to-MC2 cut point to the Edit
Line. Finally, position the Edit Line at
00;00;16;01 and roll the
MC2-to-MC3 cut point to it. Press the
V key to toggle back to the
Selection tool.

As you modify the cut point with the Rolling Edit
tool (a) the clips don’t physically move; the clips just cut earlier in
time (b). Using the Edit Line to define the moment
at which you want the new cut to occur lets you have a physical
"snapping" point to execute the edit more easily.

Right-click on the MC2 instance before the 1,2,3
edit you executed in step 11 (just before
00;00;12;21). In the menu that appears, select
Multi-Camera and from the submenu select
Camera 3 (a). Press the Home key
and play back your sequence to view the results (b).

If you ever have a multi-cam edit in which you want to swap one camera
angle for another you can right-click on the current clip instance (the
one you want to update) and choose from any of the other three cameras
in the Multi-Camera submenu. Selecting another
camera updates the clip instance in the timeline, replacing it with the
new camera you selected. Instead of updating the entire nested
sequence, only the boundaries of the edited nested clip that you select
are updated.

Adapted from Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio
Techniques by Jacob Rosenberg. Copyright © 2006
Jacob Rosenberg. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and
Adobe Press. All rights reserved.

Jacob Rosenberg
Director/Editor
Formika Filmss

Los Angeles-based filmmaker and Premiere expert Jacob Rosenberg has
worked extensively with Premiere as part of the Adobe software
development team for more than 10 years. He is also the sole featured
instructor on a Premiere training DVD that’s part of the acclaimed
Total Training instructional series. In addition to directing
commercials, music videos, and short films, Jacob teaches classes about
editing with Premiere all over the world. His latest book,
Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques, from which
this tutorial is adapted, will be available for purchase in late May
from Peachpit Press (www.peachpit.com) and will
hit stores in early June.

In my previous book on Premiere, I dedicated two chapters to creating a
custom workflow for multiple camera (multi-cam) editing. Premiere Pro
2.0 simplifies the process immensely, so my latest book offers a single
chapter that contains a range of examples and advice for honing your
multi-cam editing technique. The tutorial here is adapted from that
chapter. To download the project file used here, go to
www.studiomonthly.com/tutorials.

Where do you encounter multi-cam footage? Sporting events, the nightly
news, music videos and any shoot that has more than one camera shooting
a single event simultaneously. To demonstrate the basic technique of
the new multi-cam workflow, we’ll move through editing a live,
three-camera shoot. The book also explores alternate techniques for
synchronizing and editing music video clips.

A successful multi-cam project requires attention to all phases of the
production, especially how you set up your shoot. What you do first
affects your ability to synchronize the material from multiple cameras
in post.

Formika Films
www.formikafilms.com
Los Angeles, CA
studiotech@premiereprotraining.com